I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as 10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)

The Workbench Book mentioned is a good one. A bench should be large
and more importantly heavy. The size is only important as to what
projects you build. If I had to do mine again, I'd leave out the
built in "tool tray" which collects sawdust, tools, screws, bits. wood
scraps and other things like an open sewer. The height matches the
height of the table saw. A quality vise is important. Mine is a
#9.5 quick release Record and I love it.

On Mon, 17 May 2004 23:43:15 GMT, Darin
wrote:

I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as 10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)

I pretty much agree with the Phish, except I never put on the tool tray.
I was considering one, but I may reconsider. Mine is 36" X 64" and
has the same vise. I'm also 6'4" and set the bench height at 36". I'm
happy with that. I place my cabinet saw on a platform to raise it's
hight so the table also acts as an outfeed table. Good luck.

Art L.



Phisherman wrote:

The Workbench Book mentioned is a good one. A bench should be large
and more importantly heavy. The size is only important as to what
projects you build. If I had to do mine again, I'd leave out the
built in "tool tray" which collects sawdust, tools, screws, bits. wood
scraps and other things like an open sewer. The height matches the
height of the table saw. A quality vise is important. Mine is a
#9.5 quick release Record and I love it.

On Mon, 17 May 2004 23:43:15 GMT, Darin
wrote:


I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as 10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)

30" is a comfortable reach length. Especially if you have to do it
frequently.

I do have to opine that while the ability to lay a whole sheet of plywood on
the work bench may seem like a good idea one has to ask what do you do with
it then, outside of painting it that is?

I think I would rather have the room available so I could cut down full
sheets of plywood into manageable sizes then put them on a smaller work
bench without having to do it outside in the snow.

Just a thought.

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Darin" wrote in message
...
I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work
surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)

reaching across becomes a problem. at 4' wide what you have is an
assembly table. personal opinion is that with all the room in the world
I would make my bench ~30" wide, very heavy and at a height that was
good to work at. I would then build an assembly table wider and lighter
and at the same height as my XXX favorite tool.

BRuce

Darin wrote:
I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)


--
---

BRuce

Darin wrote:

I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work
surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

The real question is how the dimensions relate to what you do. If you are
going to need to get at all sides of a project sitting on the bench then
going around a long bench is going to get old very quickly. On the other
hand a bench that is too small to handle your typical project size is also
going to prove annoying.

If you typically do work that is the size of a full sheet of plywood then
that might be a reasonable size for your bench. If you only need to lay
the sheet flat to cut it then building a panel saw and sizing the bench for
the project rather than that one kind of cutting would be a better bet.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Been there.

By bench is 6'8" x 25", but I have a melamine outfeed table on by saw which
serves as an assembly/finishing space.

I am very pleased with this arrangement, but if I could do it again, I
would:

1. make the bench a little more narrow... may be 21" or 22" I just don't use
the extra width.
2. add the tool tray. I was recently chopping dovetails and was astounded at
the number of hand tools I had on the bend for that exercise... 1 holdfast,
3 or 4 chisels, square, dovetail marking gauge, saw, marking knife... it got
messy.

At this width it was allot of work to flatten the top. Since the
subassemblies went over the jointer I was pretty good the long way but I had
to remove about an 1/8" cumulative cup from the top by hand... that was
allot of work. I shudder at the thought of flattening a top 3-4' wide.

An assembly table needs to be big and flat, but not beefy like a bench. I
like the melamine because I can be as sloppy as I like with finishing. dried
glue and finish pop right off with a cabinet scraper. I suppose Formica
would be even better. I'm nearly as keen on dribbling all over my good
bench.

For me, the compromise of having a substantial outfeed table do double-duty
as an assembly/finishing space works well *for me*.

YMMV

-Steve




BRuce wrote in message news:1084843723.747570@sj-nntpcache-5...
reaching across becomes a problem. at 4' wide what you have is an
assembly table. personal opinion is that with all the room in the world
I would make my bench ~30" wide, very heavy and at a height that was
good to work at. I would then build an assembly table wider and lighter
and at the same height as my XXX favorite tool.

BRuce

Darin wrote:
I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work
surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)


--
---

BRuce

After my first post I thrashed the idea of a really big work bench around
some more and I'm afraid I came up with some further anti thoughts.

Space taken up by such a bench would be better used as a place to set up
take down glue up table and a take down rotating finishing table. Jobs that
I prefer to keep off my work bench since it leaves the work bench free for
other things rather then tying it up with the two rather static and messy
procedures.

A few more thoughts

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Mike G" wrote in message
...
30" is a comfortable reach length. Especially if you have to do it
frequently.

I do have to opine that while the ability to lay a whole sheet of plywood
on
the work bench may seem like a good idea one has to ask what do you do
with
it then, outside of painting it that is?

I think I would rather have the room available so I could cut down full
sheets of plywood into manageable sizes then put them on a smaller work
bench without having to do it outside in the snow.

Just a thought.

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Darin" wrote in message
...
I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work
surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)

Darin wrote in message ...

I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as 10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule?

Yep. If it's too wide it can be a problem to reach across it. My
bench is 24" wide and it seems to be just about right. I can easily
reach across it, and I rarely find myself wishing I had more width.

Of course a lot depends on the types of projects you do.

One other consideration for bench size is this: A large bench will
likely become "storage space" rather than a working bench. I know
even on my 5' x 2' bench, I tend to accumulate stuff. On the small
bench I'mm forced to clear the surface to work. On a larger bench I'd
probably just wind up pushing things off to the side.

Obviously, YMMV, but it's something top think about if you aren't a
neat freak.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

The usual advice for power tool users is the same height as other
work surfaces. For a handtool-user it's about palm height when
standing with your arms at your sides and hand outstretched,
palm-down.


Chuck Vance

Biggest mistake in my first garshop was a 4x8 bench placed in a corner, 30"
and beyond to the wall was a total waste of space plus the vertical wall
space behind it was a loss since you can't reach it
"Darin" wrote in message
...
I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' wobench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work
surface.

This would be my primary bench, for planing and assembling, and I
strongly suspect it might also accumulate piles of tools, bottles of
glue and the occasional wood scrap.

I plan to put another (slightly higher and much narrower) L-shaped bench
along one wall for finer work.

Any recommendations for height? I'm 6'-4" (and yes, I have "The
Workbench Book," but I figured its worth getting additional input from
the wrecking crew).

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

Darin

P.S. I don't actually -own- any of the tools shown in the layout yet,
but I suspect I may acquire them all at some point. The shop is going
down in the basement of a newly-built detached garage in Minneapolis,
with radiant floor heat piped in under ground from our house boiler.
Well, technically speaking, the garage doesn't completely exist yet
either -- it's framed and roofed, but lacks doors, trim and siding. The
foundation was poured into insulating concrete forms. December photos of
the partially-built garage can be found he

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-23%20Garage/

And further down in this batch, you can see some very early photos of
the shop space:

http://44clarence.com/photos/2003-12-05%20Garage/

The shop hasn't progressed much since then, as I stopped construction
for the winter once we hit 20 below 0, and now I'm working on the garage
on my own in my spare time. The boss says I need to get her garage done
before I can start on my shop :-)

"Darin" wrote in message
...

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work
surface.


Unplanned at first, I ended up pushing my bench against a wall. The 30"
depth makes it easier to reach the wall mounted cabinets mounted above it.
If yours stays in the middle of the shop, likely not an issue. My bench
length ended up about 80". I'm thinking about whacking it back to 72".
YMMV

"Mike G" wrote in message ...
After my first post I thrashed the idea of a really big work bench around
some more and I'm afraid I came up with some further anti thoughts.

Space taken up by such a bench would be better used as a place to set up
take down glue up table and a take down rotating finishing table. Jobs that
I prefer to keep off my work bench since it leaves the work bench free for
other things rather then tying it up with the two rather static and messy
procedures.

A few more thoughts

And a few mo

Flattening a 4' wide surface will be a chore since you'll have to do a
lot of planing while reaching 2' from the edge. The leverage will not
be favorable for planing, imo.

You'll probably use one side of the bench 95% of the time. It'll
start to get battered and you'll want to plane it down a bit to reveal
a fresh surface. With a 4' wide bench, you'll need to plane a lot of
real estate that probably is still in nice condition.

Cheers,
Mike

btw: I built a tool well into my ~26" wide bench and I'm glad I did.

I guess it can all be summed up as that the size of work benches are fairly
standard because it works and has worked for, well, a long long time.

However we should probably point out to the original poster that no one is
saying it is a stupid idea and that it can't work. We're just pointing out
some of the possible drawbacks we can see after dealing with workbenches of
our own..

Who knows maybe you have a style of work that will accommodate what you are
describing.

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Mike" wrote in message
m...
"Mike G" wrote in message
...
After my first post I thrashed the idea of a really big work bench
around
some more and I'm afraid I came up with some further anti thoughts.

Space taken up by such a bench would be better used as a place to set up
take down glue up table and a take down rotating finishing table. Jobs
that
I prefer to keep off my work bench since it leaves the work bench free
for
other things rather then tying it up with the two rather static and
messy
procedures.

A few more thoughts

And a few mo

Flattening a 4' wide surface will be a chore since you'll have to do a
lot of planing while reaching 2' from the edge. The leverage will not
be favorable for planing, imo.

You'll probably use one side of the bench 95% of the time. It'll
start to get battered and you'll want to plane it down a bit to reveal
a fresh surface. With a 4' wide bench, you'll need to plane a lot of
real estate that probably is still in nice condition.

Cheers,
Mike

btw: I built a tool well into my ~26" wide bench and I'm glad I did.

Actually, you folks have all been a great help. I've pretty much decided
to scale back my bench to a somewhat more normal size, based on people's
insightful comments and observations. (I think your comment about
standards being what they are because they work well is an excellent
one, by the way.)

Probably the smart thing for me to do would be to build a simple pine
bench out of 2x4s or 2x6s laid on end and face glued and topped with a
piece of disposable melamine or MDF. I'd use it for a few years as my
"temporary" bench and see how it works out, size-wise. The only problem
is "temporary" has a way of graduating to "permanent," no matter how
sub-optimal it may be :-)

Darin (the Original Poster)

Mike G wrote:
I guess it can all be summed up as that the size of work benches are fairly
standard because it works and has worked for, well, a long long time.

However we should probably point out to the original poster that no one is
saying it is a stupid idea and that it can't work. We're just pointing out
some of the possible drawbacks we can see after dealing with workbenches of
our own..

Who knows maybe you have a style of work that will accommodate what you are
describing.

Good luck on the bench.Darin. .

As far as the 2x4/2x6 pine construction goes it's pretty much what I built
my present workbench out of. It's been about ten or fifteen years now and I
may consider replacing it again in another ten or so. I'll probably use pine
then too.

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Darin" wrote in message
...
Actually, you folks have all been a great help. I've pretty much decided
to scale back my bench to a somewhat more normal size, based on people's
insightful comments and observations. (I think your comment about
standards being what they are because they work well is an excellent
one, by the way.)

Probably the smart thing for me to do would be to build a simple pine
bench out of 2x4s or 2x6s laid on end and face glued and topped with a
piece of disposable melamine or MDF. I'd use it for a few years as my
"temporary" bench and see how it works out, size-wise. The only problem
is "temporary" has a way of graduating to "permanent," no matter how
sub-optimal it may be :-)

Darin (the Original Poster)

Mike G wrote:
I guess it can all be summed up as that the size of work benches are
fairly
standard because it works and has worked for, well, a long long time.

However we should probably point out to the original poster that no one
is
saying it is a stupid idea and that it can't work. We're just pointing
out
some of the possible drawbacks we can see after dealing with workbenches
of
our own..

Who knows maybe you have a style of work that will accommodate what you
are
describing.

I have two 26"x6' benches (rather than a single large bench).
A lesson I learned from my Dad (who sold material handling
equipment for a looong time): use one bench as a 'tool' bench
and one bench as a 'work' bench. The tool bench is where the
tools, hardware and other stuff lands. The work bench is where
the cutting, gluing, clamping and assembly happens.

During a project the tool bench becomes cluttered. (I'm not
good about putting tools away mid-project, expecially when
there going to get used again). However, I can still work
on the work bench. Works for me.

"mttt" wrote in message ...
"Darin" wrote in message
...

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule? My reasoning for such a
large bench is that 1) I can lay a full sheet of plywood down on it, and
2) you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much flat work
surface.

Darin wrote in message ...
Actually, you folks have all been a great help. I've pretty much decided
to scale back my bench to a somewhat more normal size, based on people's
insightful comments and observations. (I think your comment about
standards being what they are because they work well is an excellent
one, by the way.)

Probably the smart thing for me to do would be to build a simple pine
bench out of 2x4s or 2x6s laid on end and face glued and topped with a
piece of disposable melamine or MDF.

In case you haven't seen it, Bob Keys has an excellent webpage (or
two) devoted to a bench made from construction grade lumber.
http://www.terraclavis.com/bws/beginners.htm

I built my bench based on that design. I knew very little about fine
woodworking when I started the project but I learned as I went and a
lot of valuable lessons were learned in the process.

I'd use it for a few years as my
"temporary" bench and see how it works out, size-wise. The only problem
is "temporary" has a way of graduating to "permanent," no matter how
sub-optimal it may be :-)

Well, if it works well, there's no need to replace it. Mine is
perfectly fine so I don't see myself replacing it. I may, however,
eventually build a fancy yuppie bench for indoor use.

Cheers and good luck!
Mike

Darin (the Original Poster)

Mike G wrote:
I guess it can all be summed up as that the size of work benches are fairly
standard because it works and has worked for, well, a long long time.

However we should probably point out to the original poster that no one is
saying it is a stupid idea and that it can't work. We're just pointing out
some of the possible drawbacks we can see after dealing with workbenches of
our own..

Who knows maybe you have a style of work that will accommodate what you are
describing.

Darin wrote in
:

Actually, you folks have all been a great help. I've pretty much
decided to scale back my bench to a somewhat more normal size, based
on people's insightful comments and observations. (I think your
comment about standards being what they are because they work well is
an excellent one, by the way.)

Probably the smart thing for me to do would be to build a simple pine
bench out of 2x4s or 2x6s laid on end and face glued and topped with a
piece of disposable melamine or MDF. I'd use it for a few years as my
"temporary" bench and see how it works out, size-wise. The only
problem is "temporary" has a way of graduating to "permanent," no
matter how sub-optimal it may be :-)

Darin (the Original Poster)

I built mine using the plans from one of the magazines I picked up at the
bookstore. "Build your bench in a weekend for less than $200" or some
such. Construction lumber base, and three layers of cabinet grade plywood,
glued and screwed together. I spent more time messing with mounting a face
vise than anything else. I learned a whole lot about mortise & tenons,
working with $2 2x4s than I knew before. I still haven't wrapped the maple
skirt boards around the table. This was 2.5 years ago.

When I need a 'special clamp', I grab a scrap, some drywall screws, and the
big yellow drill motor, and there's a stop block where I want it. Need a
dog hole somewhere unplanned? Find the spade bit. This table's a tool,
not an heirloom. Heirlooms are what I'm trying to build. $30 worth of
plywood and 30 minutes, and there's a new top on it, heavier and stiffer
than before.

I'd do it this way again in a heart beat. But the joinery would be neater,
and it wouldn't take me near as long. And I'd add another vise. But this
works just fine.

Patriarch,
who worries (ok, knows) that it isn't the tools that are sub-optimal....

Darin wrote:

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

I wouldn't feel comfortable at all with power tools
right next to the workbench (jointer, table saw).

One, they might get in the way; and two, they reduce
a little bit the sense of safety I would need to work
comfortably.

Why not placing those closer to the wood storage and
leave more empty room around the workbench?

Carlos
--

On Sat, 22 May 2004 17:30:35 -0400, Carlos Moreno
wrote:

Darin wrote:

You can see the proposed layout of the shop he

http://44clarence.com/layout.gif (15K)

Constructive criticism always welcome.

I wouldn't feel comfortable at all with power tools
right next to the workbench (jointer, table saw).

One, they might get in the way; and two, they reduce
a little bit the sense of safety I would need to work
comfortably.

Why not placing those closer to the wood storage and
leave more empty room around the workbench?

Carlos



what works for me:

table saw dead center in the room, with a 4x8 outfeed/assembly table
behind it.

other stationary machines and wood storage against the walls. this
fills up all of the wall space, including the inside of the garage
door.

rolling carts for material staging/ transport from machine to machine.

this leaves a fairly large area of open floor in front of the table
saw, which is at times pretty useful.

you forgot to mention that a piece (5x5) of Russian /baltic birch cut
exactly in half is 30 x 60 .. what a coincidence. I used it to make some
temp benches and they have outlasted the perminent ones....
wrote in message
...
On Mon, 17 May 2004 23:43:15 GMT, Darin
wrote:

I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule?

The standard office desk is 60"x30"
You can do some exciting things with those one inch arborite desktops and
you
can buy them for as low as $5.
Or even free.
I made a vacuum sanding top for my workbench with one of the tops.
drilled the holes a and routed channels for the air flow then slapped a
1/4 inch
back on it.
It works great.
You can make bending jig table tops with these old desk tops.
I even picked up a steel one for metalwork. Free.

I have six 'desk' tops for my workbench. One for paint and staining with
holes
for pins to keep the work up off the bench. Arborite cleans up nice as
well.

These tops store easily and give my small shop much more versitility.

JJ

Dont forget to add a bit of overhang for attaching clamps.

"Gregory Jensen" gjensen wrote in message
news:8nIsc.87856$Fl5.13779@okepread04...
you forgot to mention that a piece (5x5) of Russian /baltic birch cut
exactly in half is 30 x 60 .. what a coincidence. I used it to make some
temp benches and they have outlasted the perminent ones....
wrote in message
...
On Mon, 17 May 2004 23:43:15 GMT, Darin

wrote:

I'm starting the layout for my new shop, and I've got plenty of room --
basically 26' long x 22' deep. I'm thinking of building an 8' x 3' or
8' x 4' workbench for the center of the room. Is this ridiculously
huge?
A quick Google search shows that the widest commercial tops measure 30"
(with the most common length of 6' followed by 8', and some as long as
10').

Is there an ergonomic reason for the 30" rule?

The standard office desk is 60"x30"
You can do some exciting things with those one inch arborite desktops
and
you
can buy them for as low as $5.
Or even free.
I made a vacuum sanding top for my workbench with one of the tops.
drilled the holes a and routed channels for the air flow then slapped a
1/4 inch
back on it.
It works great.
You can make bending jig table tops with these old desk tops.
I even picked up a steel one for metalwork. Free.

I have six 'desk' tops for my workbench. One for paint and staining with
holes
for pins to keep the work up off the bench. Arborite cleans up nice as
well.

These tops store easily and give my small shop much more versitility.

JJ